Correction: Emmaus Councilman Jeff Shubzda spoke in support of revising an ordinance to allow distilleries and wineries in addition to breweries to operate in the borough. A prior version of this story misstated his stance.

There may soon be a progression from beer brewery to bourbon distillery in Emmaus.

Elected officials will soon decide whether the craft-brewing ordinance they created last year to allow Funk Brewing Co. to gain a foothold in the borough would apply to a distillery for rum, bourbon and gin.

Borough Manager Shane Pepe said applicant Kristofer Kwant would like to establish a craft distillery and tasting room in a vacant building at South Fifth and Bank streets.

The building is within the borough's Downtown Commercial Zone.

Yet to be determined is whether the borough's zoning ordinance that accommodated Funk Brewing Co. would apply to a distillery, or if another one would have to be created to allow for the use.

"We don't think it translates over to a distillery," Pepe told Borough Council during its Monday meeting.

Borough Council's General Administration Committee will examine the ordinance at its May 27 meeting and attempt to determine whether it would apply.

An ordinance may need to be created to allow for a distillery, Pepe said.

Kwant is scheduled to go before the Zoning Hearing Board on June 25.

Once the ordinance definition is established it must be reviewed by the county and the borough Planning Commission, which can take up to 45 days. Pepe said that puts the distillery in line for final adoption in August, which would put Kwant on track to meet his desired grand opening date of November.

Pepe said Kwant, who wasn't at the meeting, will immediately request a variance if a legal interpretation of the ordinance determines it does not apply.

He said his preference would be for the borough to have the ability to regulate the business rather than have it operate by means of a variance.

Borough solicitor Thomas Dinkelacker said the current ordinance applies only to breweries and not to distilled spirits, and that Kwant would likely not be entitled to a variance.

"But if it is granted we want to make sure that proper uses are attached to it," he said.

Councilman Jeff Shubzda said he hopes the borough's ordinance revision would address other potential uses that could be proposed in the future.

"I'd hate to have a winery come down the road" and the borough not having an ordinance that addressed that use, Shubzda said.

The building was previously occupied by Commercial Color and has been vacant since 2008.

Funk Brewing Co., at 19 S. Sixth St., was approved early last year as a conditional use. While it began brewing beer in February, none was available for sale on-site until June.

Unlike the Funk location, a distillery would not be required to serve food, Pepe said.

A review on the website The El Vee says Kwant plans to open a distillery in the Lehigh Valley in November called Triple Sun Spirits, where he hopes to distill "a citrus-forward American gin." The write-up does not mention Emmaus or any other specific locale.